Mongolia vs. China
Military
| Mongolia | China | |
|---|---|---|
| Military branches | Mongolian Armed Forces (Mongol ulsyn zevsegt huchin): General Purpose Troops (Mongolian Army), Air/Air Defense Force, Cyber Security, Special Forces, Civil Engineering, Civil Defense Forces; Border Troops; Internal Security Troops (2020) | People's Liberation Army (PLA): Ground Forces, Navy (PLAN, includes marines and naval aviation), Air Force (PLAAF, includes airborne forces), Rocket Force (strategic missile force), and Strategic Support Force (information warfare, cyber, space forces); People's Armed Police (PAP, includes Coast Guard, Border Defense Force, Internal Security Forces); PLA Reserve Force (2021) note(s): the PAP is a paramilitary police component of China's armed forces that is under the command of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and charged with internal security, law enforcement, counterterrorism, and maritime rights protection in 2018, the Coast Guard was moved from the State Oceanic Administration to the PAP; in 2013, China merged four of its five major maritime law enforcement agencies - the China Marine Surveillance (CMS), Maritime Police, Fishery Law Enforcement (FLE), and Anti-Smuggling Police - into a unified coast guard |
| Military service age and obligation | 18-27 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; 1-year conscript service obligation in army or air forces or police for males only (can be exchanged for a 24-month stint in the civil service or a tax voucher); after conscription, soldiers can contract into military service for 2 or 4 years; citizens can also voluntarily join the armed forces (2020) | 18-22 years of age for selective compulsory military service, with a 2-year service obligation; no minimum age for voluntary service (all officers are volunteers); 18-19 years of age for women high school graduates who meet requirements for specific military jobs (2019) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 0.7% of GDP (2019 est.) 0.7% of GDP (2018 est.) 0.8% of GDP (2017 est.) 0.9% of GDP (2016 est.) 0.9% of GDP (2015 est.) | 1.7% of GDP (2020 est.) 1.9% of GDP (2019) 1.9% of GDP (2018) 1.9% of GDP (2017) 1.9% of GDP (2016) |
| Military and security service personnel strengths | size estimates for the the Mongolian Armed Forces (MAF) vary; approximately 9,000 active duty troops (2020) | information varies; approximately 2 million total active duty troops (est. 1.0 - 1.1 million Ground; 250,000 Navy/Marines; 350-400,000 Air Force; 120,000 Rocket Forces; 150-175,000 Strategic Support Forces); est. 600-650,000 People's Armed Police (2020) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the MAF are armed with Soviet-era equipment supplemented by deliveries of second-hand Russian weapons (2020) | the PLA is outfitted primarily with a wide mix of older and modern domestically-produced systems heavily influenced by technology derived from other countries; Russia is the top supplier of foreign military equipment since 2010, followed by France and Ukraine; the Chinese defense-industrial sector is large and capable of producing advanced weapons systems across all military domains; it is the world's second largest arms producer (2020) note: the PLA is in the midst of a decades-long modernization effort; in 2017, President XI set three developmental goals for the force - becoming a mechanized force with increased information and strategic capabilities by 2020, a fully modernized force by 2035, and a worldwide first-class military by mid-century |
| Military deployments | 860 South Sudan (UNMISS) (Jan 2021) note - from 2003 to July 2021, about 3,300 Mongolian troops served in Afghanistan, including about 1,300 since 2015 under the NATO-led mission Resolute Support Mission | 425 Mali (MINUSMA); 225 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); 320 Sudan (UNAMID); 420 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 1,000 South Sudan (UNMISS); up to 2,000 Djibouti (Jan 2021) |
Source: CIA Factbook
